Mike Humfreville
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Friendships
I learned to fish at Bahia de Los Angeles in the early ?70?s. We, Mary Ann and I, had a family from New Jersey that we were friends with, had hooked
up at La Vieja Hacienda in Mulege their first time on a trip south. We were living in Bahia then, in our homemade hut south of the village. From
that late summer on we traveled every year to the Bay with Jimmy and Carol and their daughters, Beanie and Lisa.
Jimmy had two or three small homemade fishing rods. Someone had made them for him and they were very lightweight based on what I learned over the
years that followed. They had been built for the New Jersey shore.
I didn?t have the experience then to judge whether what I learned from Jimmy was just his custom of the moment or a repeated habit, but Jimmy?s
tradition was to troll. He had borrowed a small and lightweight aluminum boat and outboard and trailored it across the entire country from the east
coast to LA and then to Baja.
We?d camp at La Gringa and kill the evenings, our two families, eating camp grub and swapping stories between their quite lively children and the
adults, hit the sack early. Jimmy and I would arise at dawn, throw the fishing gear into the small boat and head out into the gulf.
During the early ?70?s, perhaps because of Jimmy?s habits that related to fishing, there was a variety of junk fish that we?d catch on or near the
surface, trolling with Rapalas and Rebels. We?d cruise along at 4 knots and every fifteen minutes or so get a hookup with a Barracuda, a Bonita or a
jack, occasionally something we could eat. Release was a concept we were not aware of but we seldom threw a fish back because the townfolk knew how
to make the best with any fish we brought them. But we never caught much anyway. Certainly we never hit limits.
We learned the geologic intimacies of Bahia during those years, the islets west of Smith?s, Coronadito, the currents on Smith?s east side, Piojo and
the small bay on her south-west corner where occasionally firecrackers situated, the ?hotel? and bay south, Las Animas where we seldom ventured; too
far with such a small boat. And all while, we had time to talk.
What I remember the most, what I took away with me for the future, was the one-on-one conversations we had daily in the boat over the weeks-at-a-time
vacations across the years. I learned of Jimmy?s life and he of mine. We were completely different people trapped, by design perhaps, in a small
boat miles from shore. There was nothing to interrupt us. Jimmy was a high school gym teacher from New Jersey. I was beginning my career with JPL
as a kid from California.
Our backgrounds were completely different, each unique and we were young with no need for reservation and spewed our stories out with no thought of
discretion. He told me his idiosyncrasies and I yawned mine. We talked about marriage and what we wanted with children and how to tie a knot in a
fishing line and the use of a pole meant for a smaller fish than the one you have. We talked about our hopes for the future without ever calling them
that (we were too young to have experienced failure). It?s funny, what you discover about another, sitting on a plank in a small tin boat drifting
around islands in paradise. It?s funny how you can take a truly ugly fish back to a village where a family wants it for today?s meal. It?s funny how
much truth comes out in the small incidents of a boat, a simple camp, a tiny village.
As I look into the unknown potentials of retirement it is rewarding to reflect back over a few of the things I do know. It seems strange to me that
the older I get the less I know. But it?s true. Life is building backwards.
We two families grew apart. Mary Ann and I were starting ours. Michael and Kevin were introduced to this world in the late ?70?s. We were pals with
Jimmy and Carol for years, took many summers together in Baja. They were there when we built our hut at Las Cuevitas in 1985.
That was the last time we saw them. Jimmy fell for a younger woman. The girls got married and had families of their own. We haven?t heard from them
for years, after all those intimate moments in a boat and on a beach. We didn?t want to intrude in their lives, to cause?whatever.
Jimmy and I were not the same yet we shared space. Mary Ann and Carol were sharing that same situation. Yet we were close, our two families. We all
learned from each other through our differences. How could we learn from another if not for difference?
I know forever how to tie Jimmy?s fishing knot. Others know it as well. I see them using it. It?s not his knot, actually. And I never asked him
its name.
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burritomama
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Thanks for sharing this story - it was great to get home after a long night/day of teaching (the last for this semester!) and find this to read.
I'm ready to head south as soon as I finish grading.
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Mike Humfreville
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Be Prepared, Amiga, be prepared.
La Gringa will be invaded by a small and conservative group ready to make your acquaintance and Mary Ann and I hope you will join us for a festivity
back at Gecko. This a good group of pals, but you already know that. Be welcomed.
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Packoderm
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Mike, that is a nice story, but I think I may be reading a little bit more into it. That small boat couldn?t possibly be a metaphor for our little
world right here and on the peninsula, could it?
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Mike Humfreville
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Pack...
Or this forum, perhaps...? But the story is very much fact. There's always a parallel I guess. Thanks for reading.
Mike
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Edie H.
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Location: Yorba Linda, Ca
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Mike.....you have such a wonderful way of writing experiences you've had in your life. It brings back a memory of friends we have but they as well
have gone "on" to live a different life now than the one we had shared with them throughout our many years of adventures all thru Baja and mainland
Mexico. The many nights sitting around a camp fire sharing our thoughts and lives. It really is a wonderful memory but also a sad one as well.
We're still looking for that next couple(s) to start making new memories with.......just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to put to words
what I can only feel in my heart.
May the wind at your back not be your own.
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burritomama
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looking forward to meeting you Mike. heads up though. We'll now be there later rather than earlier because I have contracted that dreaded flu - so
our ETA is now after Xmas but the good news is that we'll be around until the 5th or so.
hasta la vista
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Mike Humfreville
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Registered: 8-26-2003
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Burritomama
Sorry to hear you have that nasty bug. Mary Ann and I will be at Gecko 12/28 through at least 1/4, longer perhaps, so we'll grab Marla and Co and see
you out at La Gringa. Thanks for warm words and get well soon.
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burritomama
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cough cough cough
Thanks.
Has Marla already vouched for our characters? She did warn you that we are both English profs with over-developed senses of social justice, didn't
she? But we're lots of fun too.
At least my husband is in an anarchic Groucho Marx sort of way. Once the cough goes away and I finish grading 60,000 student essays, I am sure my
sense of humor will return.
I'll be checking in here until we go.
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Mike Humfreville
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Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Burritomama
She told us you were an English Prof. I'm sure she figured we'd see first hand soon enough. Mary Ann and I are counting days...
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